The ratio of the number of new BEV units sold in the US to the number of newly-added DC fast charger ports increased to 110 to 1 in 2022, from 81 to 1 in 2021. The increase is due to new BEV sales outpacing the rate of newly added DC fast chargers in the US. The number of charger ports (connectors) includes only public chargers, but those with all types of connectors including Tesla (NACS), CCS, and CHAdeMO.
The ratio of EVs to chargers is a popular metric to gauge whether there are enough public chargers to meet the growing sales of electric vehicles. There is no agreement on what the right ratio should be, however, looking at historical ratio trends can provide insight into how the pace of new chargers compares to EV sales growth.
In the chart above, we measured US sales of only BEVs (PHEVs were excluded) each year from 2011 through 2022 and compared that to the number of newly-added Level 2 charging ports, DC fast charger ports, and combined Level 2 and DC fast charger ports. A few highlights:
- The ratio of 33 BEVs to one Level 2 charging port was tied with 2019 for the third highest (worst) year since 2011.
- The ratio of 110 new BEVs sold in 2022 to 1 newly added DC fast charger ports was more than double the ratio in 2020. BEV sales were flat in 2020 versus 2019, but the major charging networks including Tesla, Electrify America, and EVgo started to scale up the pace of new charging stations (sites) and also increased the average number of ports per location.
- The 2022 ratio of BEVs to the number of both newly-added Level 2 and DCFC charging ports, was 25 to 1. This was the third highest ratio since the 31 to 1 in 2013 and 29 to 1 in 2014.
With Tesla in particular adding new Supercharger sites at an average of 1 per day so far in 2023 and an average of 13.2 chargers per location, it will be fascinating to see where the 2023 BEV to DC fast charging port ratio ends up.
For a deep dive into the value and meaning of the ratio fo EVs to chargers, read the EVAdoption article: What Is The “Minimum Acceptable” Ratio Of EVs to Charging Stations?
